Soft Sided Waterbed

Introduced in the late 1970s, soft sided waterbeds turned the waterbed world upside down. Soft sided waterbeds took the best features of a hard sided waterbed, incorporating newer materials and multilayer designs that enhance your sleeping experience and overall level of comfort. While some hard core waterbed enthusiasts prefer the old hard sided waterbeds, millions of people have made the change to a soft sided waterbed.

Soft sided waterbeds have the look and feel of a traditional innerspring mattress. Soft sided waterbeds are available in the same standard sizes as traditional mattresses. What makes soft sided waterbeds really different from hard sided designs is how the water is contained. Hard sided waterbeds, regardless of the size, use a single vinyl bladder to hold the water. Soft sided waterbeds use a combination of individual water filled tubes. This feature allows you to precisely adjust the firmness of the bed, especially important when you share your sleeping space.

The routine maintenance required for any waterbed is made easier with a soft sided waterbed. Adding biocides and other chemicals is as easy as periodically dropping a tablet into each water tube. If one of the tubes springs a leak, you have the option of repairing the tube of replacing it. If your old bladder type waterbed mattress sprang a leak, the repair was time consuming. The bladder would need to be completely drained so the leak could be repaired. The bladder would have to refilled, new chemicals added and the mattress would need to heat up, taking at least a day or more.

Soft sided waterbeds are generally more light weight than hard sided waterbeds, partly because the bulky wooded frame and pedestal have been eliminated. Weight has always been a factor with waterbeds and there was a fear, largely based on a misperception that waterbeds were too heavy for the average residential floor. The fact is that the average residential refrigerator can weigh more per foot than the average waterbed. Just as there have never been any reported cases of refrigerators spontaneously falling through the floor, no waterbeds have ended up in the basement.

Innovative designs of many soft sided waterbeds feature multiple layers of plush foam and other materials include the popular visco elastic memory foam. Some elaborate designs feature special support areas for the lumber spine that are built right into top cover. Soft sided waterbeds can use standard bedding and bed sheet sets, without the need for special size sheets.

Some Waterbed History

Back in the 1960's, waterbeds took the sleep system world by storm. With nothing more than a wooden frame, safety liner and bladder type waterbed mattress, the waterbed age turned from fad to necessity. In the early days of waterbeds, heaters, now a staple accessory for hard sided waterbeds had not even been invented.

Early waterbed fans were provided with a thin piece of foam rubber. The foam acted as an insulator between the user and the water bladder. Without that simple layer of foam, the sleeper was likely to face a cold, uncomfortable night. The invention of thermostatically controlled waterbed heaters was a major development that propelled waterbed sales to new heights.

Along the way, the frames for hard sided waterbeds became design specialties which included storage drawer pedestals, padded side rails and other amenities. One big draw back to hard sided waterbeds was the need to by special waterbed sheet sets. The need for special waterbed sheet sets is driven primarily by the non-standard size of most hard sided waterbeds.